Air lift-pump.



T. PETERS.

AIR LIFT PUMP.

APPLICATION FILED PEB.7,1913.

' 1,077,997, Patented Nov. 11, 1913.

3 SHEBTS-SHEBT 1.

5 8 i 7 i i i 1 K j i I; J i l j f I 7 l f 1 I i I l I l w w rWITNESSES: IIIYEIITOH o pvmfm,

w fiti T. PETERS.

AIR LIFT PUMP. APPLICATION FILED PEB.7,1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES:

INVENTOR 7am w ,4 rramvsr Patented Nov 11, 1913.

T. PETERS.

AIR LIFT PUMP. APPLICATION FILED rm.7,1913.

1,077,997, Patented Nov. 11, 1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

zam 5 I i mdm,

'rn nononn PETERS, or FERDINAND, INDIANA.

AIR LIFT-PUMP.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Nov. 1 1, 1913.

Application filed February 2, 1913. Serial No. 746,849.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, Tnnononn PETERS, acitizen of the United States, residing at Ferdinand, in the county ofDubois and State of Indiana, have invented new and useful Improvementsin Air Lift-Pumps, of

which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to lift pumps and has particular reference to thatclass of such devices wzhe'rei'n compressed air is utilized as theactuating power.

The principal object of my invention contemplates the construction of anair lift pump in which the rise and fall of the water levelautomatically controls the application of compressed air.

A further object resides in the construction of my pump in such mannerthat all air controlled mechanism will be carried within the pumpstructure itself, thus proriding a unitary system and entirelyeliminating the necessity of employing auxiliary controlling means forthe air supply.

A still further object is to construct my pump with such regard toarrangement of parts that the waste of compressed air is eliminated byproviding means for effecting the continuous and uninterrupted pressureof the air within the air cylinder.

The above and additional objects are accomplished by such means as areillustrated" in. their preferred eml'iodimeut in the accompanyingdrawings, described in the following specification and thenmoreparticularly pointed out in the claims which are appended hereto andform a part of this application.

view of the same.

VVit-h reference to the drawings, wherein Ihave illustrated thepreferred embodiment of my invention as it is reduced to practice, andthroughout the several views of which, similar reference numeralsdesignate corresponding parts: Figure 1 is a front elevation of thecomplete pump with part oi the control cylinder broken away to take.port and the discharge ports Fig. 8 is a detail view of the intakevalve. Fig. '9 is a detail View of the valve used in the air exhaust andintake structure. Fig. 10 is a detached detail view in perspectiveillustrating the trip rollers of the valve structuie. Fig. 11 is adetail view of the trip ro Proceeding now to the description of thedrawings, the preferred embodiment of my invention includes four mainelements; the water cylinders l and 2, the float 3, the air chambers and.the valve mechanism arranged therein designated as an entirety by thenumeral 4 and the water intake ports and discharge ports indicated inFig. 1 by the numeral 5.

Taking up the variouselemonts in the order of their naming, thecylinders 1 and 2 are lengths of cylindrical metal casin' which may beof any desired size, althou'gi in reducing my invention to practice Ihave found that it is expedient to make the cylinder 1 of less diameterthan the cylinder 2. These cylinders carry on their upper ends the airchambers 4 and the intake ports are secured to their lower end by meansof the rods 6 which maintain the various parts in assembled position inthe manner illustrated in Fig. 1 or in any other suitable manner.

The floatis a cylindrical casing somewhat similar to the cylinder 2 withthe exception, however, that whereas the cylinder 2 is open at bothends, the member 3 is equipped with integral closing caps at each end,the closure member 7 being reduced atits outer portion and provided witha screw threaded bore adapted to receive the threaded end of the triprod 8. The float 3 is equipped with the rollers 9 which are disof whichis directed outwardly as in Fig.

to provide space for the reception of air pipe inlets and exhaust portto be hereinafter descr bed. The housing 4 is divided 'into thecompartments 11, 12 and 1.3 by the partition walls 14, 15 and 16. Thepartition wall 14 is enlarged to provide the vertically arranged airpipes 18 and 19 illustrated in- Fig. 2. The wall 15 is provided with an'ofiset portion 20 to permit of sliding movement in a vertical plane ofthetrip collars being posed to maintain the float in uniform Ihereinafter described. The pipes 18 andJitQ provided in the wall 15 andconunuuicate respectively with the cylinders 1 and 2boing projectedthrough the partition plate 21 which is disposed between the housing 4and the cylinders 1 and 2. The pipe 18 is provided with an inlet port 22arranged on the forwardv face of the wall 14 and with an exhaust port 23arranged on the rearward face of the said plate. The pipe 19 is providedwith a similarly disposed inlet port 24 and exhaust port 25 arrangedrespectively on the forward and rearward faces of the wall 14. Theseports are preferably metallic pipes having the communicating bores 26indicated in Fig. 9 and are provided with the annular recesses 27adapted to receive the valve plugs. These plugs maybe secured by themetallic straps and screws indicated at 28 of Fig. 9 or any othersuitable securing means may be employed.

' The valve structure proper includes theournaled in a perforation isdisposed in vertical alinement with the space between the cylinders 1and 2. Rcarwardly of the wall 14, the spindle is equipped with the valvespindle 29 valve plugs 30 and 31 and forwardly of the wall 14 it carriesthe valve plugs 32 and As illustrated in Figs. 5 and- 6, these valveplugs 32 and 33 and 30 and 31 are carried on the free ends of the Vshaped valve arms 34 and 35 respectively. These'arms 34 and 35 are keyedto the spindle 29 and are of such shape that only one of the valve plugson each of the said arms will close their respective ports at the sametime. They are also adapted for alternate engagement with the variousports in a manner which. will be hereinafter fully described.

As above stated the spindle 29 is journaled in the wall 15. A lever arm36 is keyed to the spindle and is normally disposed in a horizontalplane, This member 36 is arranged in the chamber 13 and is provided withthe yoke arms 37 which pivotally engage the pin 38 carried by the valveleveris further provided with the gage collar 43 which is mounted on therod between the collar 42 and the lower endof said rod. The member 43 iscircumferentially beveled as illustrated in Fig. 3, the upper face ofthe member being adapted for engagement with the rollers 44 and 45 onupward movement of the float and the lower face being adapted forengagement with the rollers on down ward movement of the said float. Theroller members are secured to the lower end of the roller arms 46 and 47which are pivotally mounted on the supporting arm 48, the latter memberbeing bolted or otherwise secured to the partition wall 15. A spring 46'is disposed to normally hold the arms 46 and 4Z'With their free ends inengagement with each other A retaining roller 49 secured to the leafspring 50 is mounted .within the chamberl3 and is disposed for yieldingengagement with the free end of the lever 39.

Coming now to the description of the water intake ports and thedischarge ports: This structure includes the members 51 and 52 which areprovided with the downwardly extending openings 53 and 54 and areprovided on their upper portions with the annular cylinder seats.Themeinbers 51 and 52 are provided with the annular grooves 57 and 58,these grooves being communieant with the discharge pipe 59 through theme-' dium of the passages 60 and 61, the upper"v portions of which areprovided with valve" in a well, river or other water supply, the

water being under atmospheric pressure will spring the flap valve 64open and will rise in the cylinders 1 and 2. As the water rises thefloat 3 will be carried upwardly until the member 43 engages the rollers44 and 45, and will remain in this position until the chambers areapproximately filled with water at which juncture the pressure tendingto move the float 3 upwardly will be suflicient to spring the rollers 44and 45, thus permitting the rod 8 to move upwardly and consequentlyallowing the collar 42 to swing the lever 39 upwardly. Immediately thearm 39 is moved upwardly, the roller 49 actuated by spring 50 movesinwardly, the spindle 29 is rotated in a clockwise direction through theaction of the valve lever 36. As the spindle 29 turns, the intake port22 of the pipe 18 will be closed by the valve plug 32 and the port 24which is also an intake pipe will be opened. It will be ob served thatprior to this juncture, all .of the valves, have been opened thuspermitting the air within the cylinder to exhaust as the water levelrises. Simultaneously with the opening of the port 24 and the closing ofthe port 22, the exhaust 31 of the pipe 19 will be closed and theexhaust 3O of the pipe 18 will be opened. At this point,

compressed air which may be supplied by an auxiliary pump or by acompressed air tank is introduced to the chamber 13 through thecompressed air pipe 65. As the air rushes into the chamber 13, it willof course seek an outlet andwill therefore pass through the open intake24 through the pipe 19 and exerting force on the water contained in thusexerted will force the water out of cylinder 1 through (the passage 60and thence through the discharge pipe 59. As soon as the water; however,has fallen to a predetermined level inthe cylinder 2, the float 3 beingno longer supported will, from its own Weight, draw the collar 41 down.against the lever arm189 and when the water has been completelyexhausted from the cylinder 2, the weight of the fi'oat will besuificient todraw the lever arm back to its initial positionagainst theaction of the roller 49 and the spring 50. Simultaneously with thismovement, the intake 24, of the cylinder. 2 will be ciosed and theexhaust 25 for the said cylinder opened and consequently the intake 22of the cylinder 1 will be opened and the exhaust of said cylinderclosed. The atmospheric pressure on the water of the well or river againacts to raise the'watcr in the cylinder 2 and at the same time byopening the valve 22 the air pressure in the chamber 13 is transferredto the cylinder 1 forcing the water in the cyl inder through thedischarge pi e 59 in the manner above described to the ow of water inthe cylinder 2.

It will thus be seen that the pumping of 'the water to any level may beaccomplished by the mere provision of a compressedair pump or tank andthat the flow of water will be steady, and continuous.

While I have designed the valve structure herein disclosed with specialreference to an air pump, it will of course be understood that thisvalve structure and controlling means therefor may be readily applied toany device wherein automatically controlled valve mechanism is employed.

It will, of course, be understood that the above dcscription'andaccompanying drawings comprehend only the general and preferredembodiment of my invention and that various minor changes in the detailsof construction, proportion and arrangement of parts may be made withinthe scope of the appended claims and without sacrificing any of theadvantages of my invention.

lVhat is claimed is: 1. An air lift pump including a compressed aircontainer, pair of water cylinders having inwardly opened flap valves attheir lower ends, a discharge spout communicantwith the said cylinders,a float carried within one of said cylinders and adapted for verticalmovement in accordance with the rise and fall of water within saidcylinder, a valve housing carried by said cylinders, said housing beingdivided into an exhaust chamber, a compressed air intake chamber, and avalve controlled chamber, each of said water cylinders being communicantwith the said exhaust and intake chambers, a plu cylinder 2. Thepressurerality of valve plugs mounted in operative relation to theexhaust and intake ports and" means carried within the housing andautomatically controlled by the said float for opening: the intake portof the float cylinderand at the same time opening the exhaust port ofthe other cylinder and simultaucously with this operation closing theintake of the last mentioned cylinder and closing the exhaust port ofthe said float cylinder.

2. An air lift pump including a pair of water cylinders having inwardlyopening flap valves in their lower ends, a discharge spout communicantwith the said cylinders,

-means including a valve spindle rotatably mounted within the saidhousing, a pair of valve arms keyed to the said spindle, one of saidarms being disposed in the exhaust chamber, the other of said arms beingmounted within the intake cylinder, the said valve plugs being carriedby the said valve arms, a pivotally mounted lever arm carried within thecasing and operatively connected to the said valve spindle and meanscarried by the said float and adapted for engagement with the saidpivotally mounted arm for automatically controlling the rotation of thevalve spindle and consequent movement of the valve plugs.

3. An air lift pump including a pair-of water cylinders, a dischargespout communican't with the said cylinders and means for automaticallyeffecting the air intake and exhaust of one cylinder in alternaterelationto the air intake and exhaust of the other cylinder, said meansincluding a plurality of valve plugs, a-rotatably mounted valve spindle,a plurality of valve arms whereon are mounted the said valve plugs, anopcratin {1 arm keyed to said valve spindle and piv otally connected toa lever'arm carried within the chamber, a pair of co-acting pivotallymounted spring controlled retaining rollers carried by said lever arm, afloat mounted for vertical movement within one of the said cylinderswith the rise and fall of the water within the cylinder, an upwardlyprojecting trip rod carried by said float, a pair of spaced lever armengaging collars mounted on said trip rod and a roller engaging collarsecured to said trip rod for preventing the upward-movement of the floatbeyond a fixed point until the water pressure within the float cylinderhas reached a predetermined point.

4. An air lift pump comprising in combination, a pair of water cylinderscommunicating with -a source of supply of water, each cylinder having anair pressure intake and an exhaust, rocking levers mounted upon a singlepivot and one lever being pro;

vided with means for controlling the air takes and theother lever beingprovided with means for controlling the air exhausts, and a float in onecylinder for rocking said levers to alternately close air exhausts andintakes of-said cylinder, substantially as described.

5. An air lift pump comprising in combination, a pair of water cylinderscommunicating with a source of supply of water and each having an airintake and exhaust, rocking levers mounted upon a single pivot and onelever having means for controlling the exhausts and the other leverhaving means for eontrolling the intakes, a spring con trolled arm forrocking said levers, and a float in one of said cylinders for rockingsaid arm, substantially as described.

1,0 near 6. An air lift pump comprising in combination, a pair of watercylinders communieating with a source of supply of water and eachprovided with an air pressure intake and exhaust, means for controllingsaid exdownward movement of the fioat' prior to actuation of said meansthereby, substantially as described.

THEODORE PETERS.

